Voluntary technical standards for AI and robotics
In this context, the term “standards” refers to norms such as those adopted by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) which are non-binding per se but which can become binding when referred to as such by national or international law.
Apart from economic incentives to develop and comply with international standards in a globalized economy, the 164 members of the World Trade Organization (WTO) are required by the WTO Agreement on Technical Barriers to Trade1 to use relevant international standards as a basis for their (binding) technical regulations at the national level, “except when such international standards or relevant parts would be an ineffective or inappropriate means for the fulfilment of the legitimate objectives pursued” (art 2.4). The flexibility accorded by this provision with regard to the choice of standard and manner of its use has been the subject of many debates. These debates are particularly salient in the domain of ICTs, where private standardization bodies have come to challenge the monopoly of the traditional trio of ISO, the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) and the International Telecommunications Union (ITU).
ISO and IEC
Aside from introductory sections, ISO and IEC standards are not freely available and subject to strict copyright, thus unsuitable for detailed discussion on this website. The following is only a brief overview.
Robotics safety standards
ISO’s first industrial robotics safety standard was ISO 10218:1992 ‘Manipulating industrial robots – Safety’, which subsequently expanded in scope and from 2006 on was published in two parts, of which the most recent versions are ISO 10218-1:2011 ‘Robots and robotic devices – Safety requirements for industrial robots – Part 1: Robots’ and ISO 10218-2:2011 ‘Robots and robotic devices – Safety requirements for industrial robots – Part 2: Robot systems and integration’.
The 2011 version of the two-part ISO 10218 standard already includes guidelines for collaborative applications, but is currently being revised to incorporate supplementary guidance from technical specification ISO/TS 15066:2016 ‘Robots and robotic devices – Collaborative robots’ as well as other developments.
As for service robot safety, the principal standard published thus far by the ISO Technical Committee on Robotics (ISO/TC 299) is ISO 13482:2014 ‘Robots and robotic devices – Safety requirements for personal care robots’, with more underway.
A joint working group with IEC also published two medical robot safety standards:
- IEC 80601-2-77:2019 on basic safety and essential performance of robotically assisted surgical equipment
- IEC 80601-2-78:2019 on basic safety and essential performance of medical robots for rehabilitation, assessment, compensation or alleviation
AI/ML standardization
Attempts to standardize AI/ML at ISO date back to at least the 1990s but only reached the stage of defining basic vocabulary. In 2017 these efforts were revived by establishing a new subcommittee on AI under the Joint Technical Committee 1 (on IT) of ISO and IEC, the ISO/IEC JTC 1/SC 42.
Most of the outputs so far are of a non-normative type, such as technical reports, or limited to vocabulary and conceptual frameworks. An exception is ISO/IEC 38507:2022 on governance implications of the use of AI by organizations.
ITU
The ITU being an intergovernmental organization, most of its standards are freely available. ITU-T Recommendations are the main non-binding standardization output of ITU, with over 4000 in force to date across a wide range of topics.
Some examples of relevant Recommendations in force:
- ITU-T F.748.11 (08/2020) : Metrics and evaluation methods for a deep neural network processor benchmark
- ITU-T Y.3531 (09/2020) : Cloud computing - Functional requirements for machine learning as a service
- ITU-T F.746.9 (05/2019) : Requirements and architecture for indoor conversational robot systems
IEEE
Footnotes:
Agreement on Technical Barriers to Trade (adopted 15 April 1994, entered into force 1 January 1995) 1868 UNTS 120 (TBT).